Bin tilting device



July 3, 1962 M. E. DOLE BIN TILTING DEVICE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov.26, 1957 INVENTOR.

ray E o/e ATTOEA/(FV Jul 3, 1962 n. E. DOLE 3,042,237

BIN TILTING DEVICE Filed Nov. 26, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENTOR.

1a Hon E. Do/e BY 49% f% July 3, 1962 M- E. DOLE BIN TILTING DEVICEFiled Nov. 26, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. Mar/m 5. 0

July 3, 1962 E DOLE 3,042,237

BIN TILTING DEVICE Filed Nov) 26, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR.

Mar/an E. Do/e. BY

A TIDE/V5 Y United States Patent Ofiice 3,642,237 Patented July 3, 19623,042,237 BIN TILTING DEVICE Marion E. Dole, Beatrice, Nebr., assignor,by mesne assignments, to Hoover Ball and Bearing Company, Saline, Mich,a corporation of Michigan Filed Nov. 26, 1957, Ser. No. 699,032 4Claims. (Cl. 214314) This invention relates to a receptacle tilting andunloading apparatus.

More particularly this invention relates to an improvement on UnitedStates Letters Patent No. 2,578,116 issued December 11, 1951, forReceptacle Tilting and Unloading Device such as bins disclosed in UnitedStates Letters Patent No. 2,648,428, issued August 11, 1953.

In the prior art of unloading bins containing material, it was common tomove the bin against an unloading discharge chute and then tilt the binand the tilt rack together.

The present invention has for an object the tilting of the bin orangularly moving the bin against a relatively fixed discharge means.

Another object of the present invention is to provide bin leg engagingmeans which are operable in response to tilting movement of the tiltrack and the bin.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent asthe description of the same proceeds and the invention will be bestunderstood from the con sideration of the accompanying detaileddescription, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forminga part of the specification, with the understanding, however, that theinvention is not to be limited to the exact details of constructionshown and described since obvious modifications will occur to a personskilled in the art.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a view in side elevation and with parts broken away showinga tilting device of this invention along with a bin to be relativelytilted;

FIG. 2 is a view taken substantially on broken line 2-2 of FIG. 1 andwith the bin shown in phantom so as not to obscure details of thetilting device;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1, except that additional parts havebeen broken away for purposes of illustration, and the tilting deviceand the bin carried thereby have been rotated approximately 45 over therelative positions shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of parts shown in FIG. 3 to bringout further details of construction;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing the relative position ofthe foot engaging means when the structure is in the position shown inFIG. 1 of the drawings; and

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 except showing the relative positionof the parts when the tilting mechanism and the bins are in the positionshown in FIG. 3 of the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings, there is a side brace at each side of thetilting mechanism and each side brace may comprise a base brace 10 andtwo diagonal braces 12 and 14.

Each of the side braces 10-1214 is interconnected at a top portion as bya tubular brace 16. At the bottom each of the side braces 101214 ispivotally connected by a bearing 17 with one of the end plates 18 of thedischarge hopper, generally indicated by 20. Also the spaced apart basebraces 10 are interconnected by a cross tubular brace 22.

The cross tubular brace 22 carries a tongue 26 and the tongue 26 isadapted to support a bin 28 so that the tines of a fork lift truck maybe inserted under a bin 28 and a bin will straddle the tongue 26 so thata bin can be moved into place and supported by the tongue 26 or removedfrom the said tongue 26.

Preferably the tubular brace 16 carriers adjustable padded stops 30 sothat one side wall face of a bin 28 may be caused to engage, at the topend portion thereof, adjustable stops 30. The same face of the bin,which was arrested by engaging the adjustable stops 30, is arrested atthe bottom against movement in the same direction when leg cups 32engage legs 34 of the bin 28. Thus with movement of the bin and thetilting mechanism in a direction from FIG. 1 to FIG 3, the legs 34 ofthe bin engage the vertical flanges of the leg cups 32 at the bottom andan upper portion of the bin 28 will engage with spaced apart adjustablestops 30.

The leg cups 32 may be supported by the base brace 10 or by the crosstubular brace 22 and as an illustration, there are shown supports 36between each cup 32 and the cross brace 22. The purpose of supportingthe leg cups 32 adjacent the braces 10 is to keep the leg cups 32 to thesides and thus not interfere with the movement of lift truck tinesadjacent the tongue 26.

A lift truck will move a bin 28 onto the tongue 26 and the parts willassume the positions shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings. The leg cups 32tend to adjust the bin sidewise so as to be centrally located on thetongue 26.

The means, to angularly move the tongue 26 and bin 28 supported therebyfrom the position shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings to the position shownin FIG. 3 of the drawings, may comprise a fluid piston and cylindermeans generally indicated by 38. The said fluid operated piston andcylinder means 38 interconnect with the tongue 26 by a rod 40 which ispivotally connected with said tongue 26. At the other end portion, thefluid piston and cylinder means 38 is pivotally connected to a suitablyarranged fixed support 42.

A discharge means to receive the contents from the bin 28 may be in thenature of the hopper 20 having a screw type conveyor discharge 44 withinthe hopper 20. The hopper 20 has an intake opening surrounded by agasket 46. The hoper 20 has a face plate 48 supporting the gasket 46 andthe face plate 48 is disposed at an angle in the order of to thehorizontal or the vertical. In the event that a bin, such as shown inFIGS. 1 to 3, is employed and said bin has a discharge door disposed inone side wall face and adjacent the bottom of the bin, then materialwill best discharge from the bin when the bin is tilted at an angle inthe order of 45 There may be variations in degrees but maximumefliciency requires tilting of the bin so that the material isdischarging from the side walls or from the bottom at substantially thesame angle.

In the present invention, the bin is tipped to the desired angledepending upon the location of the discharge door in the bin and the binis moved against a discharge face plate, as the face plate 48, while thesaid face plate is relatively fixed as respects the bin so that the binmoves against a face plate which is to be distinguished from the priorart patent of F. J. White et at. 2,578,116. In said prior are patent,the bin was supported by the tongue and sealed against the hopper andthen the bin and hopper and tongue tilted after such prior initialengagement.

Now referring to the fragmentary view, FIGS. 5 and 6, it is desired thatas the bin and tilting means move from the position shown in FIG. 1 tothe position shown in FIG. 3 of the drawings that apparatus be employedwhich will firmly secure the legs 34 in the leg cups 32 and urge thesaid legs 34 in a direction from right to left as viewed in FIGS. 1 and3 of the drawings. This construction embodies a link 50 pivoted to aplate 52 and' which plate 52 is carried by an end plate 18. Theconstruction will be the same at each side and hence only theconstruction from the side as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 3 3 will bedescribed as the construction on the opposite side will be the same infunction and paired therewith. The link 50 is pivoted by pivot means 70to a second link 54. The link 54 carries a dog leg link 56 so that thelinks 54- 56 may be termed a bell crank. The dog link 56 is pivoted at58 with a link 60. The leg cup 32 carries a plate 62. and a link 64 ispivoted by pivot 66 with the plate 62. Also the link 64 is pivoted bypivot means 68 with the bell crank 54-56.

Referring now particularly to FIG. 6 which shows the tongue 26 tiltedits furthest amount, and to return the parts to the position shown inFIG. 5 of the drawings, it will be apparent that as the pivot 70 movesto the right as respects the showing in FIG. 6, the pivot 68 will movedownwardly and pivots 58 and 66 will move relatively towards each otherand that the link 60 will move in a clockwise direction. As the link 60moves in a clockwise direction about pivot 71, the adjustable springloaded stop 72 will move away from the bin leg 34. This is the directionof movement as the bin is moved downwardly or in other words the tongue26 moves in a clockwise direction, and thus the linkage described inconnection with FIG. 6 will finally assume the relative positions shownin FIG. 5. When the bin starts normally in the position shown in FIG. 5,then upon turning of the tongue 26 in a counter-clockwise direction, thelinkage will finally assume the relative positions shown in FIG. 6 ofthe drawings and the stop 72 will be urged against a bin leg 34 and thebin leg will be urged so that the bin leg is urged against the uprightflange of a leg cup 32.

The structure shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 of the drawings is extremely usefulwhere the bins 28 are of a height much greater than the elevation of theadjustable stop 30 carried by the tubular cross brace 16. Also by havingthe movement of the tilting mechanism cause the adjustable stop 72 toengage the legs, then there is certainty of the position of the bin sothat as the bin is tilted the door opening 74 of a bin 28 willpositively register and index relative to the face plate 48 and thegasket 46 carried by said face plate 48.

The details of construction tilting mechanism per se of the drawingsform no part of the present invention and generally the construction isillustrative of this invention indicating that the amount of angularmovement of tilting mechanism is not necessarily limited tosubstantially 45.

In view of the similarity of'discharge doors and means to. open andclose the same here pertinent and to those illustrated in the patent toF. J. White et al. 2,578,116, the same have not been described anddiscussed in detail. Obviously changes may be made in forms, dimensionsand arrangements of the parts of my invention without departing from theprinciple thereof, the above setting forth only preferred forms ofembodiment.

I claim:

1. A tilting device for a rectangular bin having a bottom end providedwith supporting legs and a material discharge and discharge openingclosure means therefor comprising a hinged outwardly opening door forclosing said material discharge opening, said door being disposedadjacent a lower end portion of a side wall thereof; a rotatably mountedbin holding and supporting device comprising a rigid frame structurecontacting the said side wall of said bin at a position above said sidedoor and detachably supporting the bottom end of the bin; means forrotationg said bin holding and supporting device substantially 45; arelatively fixed material receiving means; a face plate having amaterial receiving opening therethrough, which opening is larger thansaid hinged door, said plate rigidly being disposed on said relativelyfixed material receiving means, said face plate being angularly disposedat substantially 45 to the horizontal, being disposed in the path oftravel of said discharge means of said bin, and being alined to meet thesaid side wall of said bin around said door with a flush contact uponrotation of the bin holding device; and gasket means disposed betweensaid plate and the said side wall of the bin upon said rotation, saidrelatively fixed supporting means supporting said bin against furthertilting when the bin is rotated to provide said flush contact.

2. A tilting device for tilting relative to a fixed support bins havinglegs comprising a rotatably mounted bin holding device; a leg receivingcup carried by said bin holding device and having a bottom and avertical wall for engaging with the forward and bottom portionsrespectively of a bin leg; clamping means carried by said bin holdingdevice and engagea'ble with the trailing portion of said bin leg; and aclamp operating means operable by and during rotary movement of the binholding device, wherein the clamping means is rotatably carried by thebin holding device and the clamp operating means comprises linksinterconnecting the clamping means and a fixed support, whereby said binleg is clamped to said leg receiving cup during rotary movement of saidr0- tatably mounted bin holding device.

3. In apparatus for dumping the contents of a bin having a bottom and aside wall provided with a discharge door mounted to swing outwardly ofsaid side wall to an open position, a fixed hopper having side walls andan open upper end which is inclined downwardly toward one of said sidewalls and is larger than said door for engagement with said bin sidewall at a position surrounding said discharge door, and a lift framepivotally supported adjacent said hopper for up and down pivotalmovement about a substantially horizontal axis, said lift frame beingpivotally movable about said axis in an upward direction from a positionin which said lift frame is substantially horizontal and extendsoutwardly away from said one hopper side wall, bin supporting means onsaid lift frame and extending upwardly therefrom in said horizontalposition of the lift frame to engage said bin side wall at a.

position above said door, and said support means being movable with saidlift frame during said pivotal movement.

4. In apparatus for dumping the contents of a bin having a bottom and aside wall provided with a discharge door mounted to swing outwardly ofsaid side wall to an open position, a fixed hopper having an open upperend which is inclined relative to the horizontal and is larger than saiddoor, annular gasket means on said hop-, per upper end of a size toengage said side wall at a position surrounding said discharge door, alift framej pivotally supported on said hopper for up and down pivotalmovement about a substantially horizontal axis, means on said lift framefor supporting the bottom of said bin in a position in which said sidewall is adjacent to and angularly related to said hopper end, powermeans attached to said lift frame for pivotally moving said lift frameupwardly to a position in which said side wall is engaged with saidgasket means, and adjustable stop means on said lift frame movable withsaid lift frame during said pivotal movement and engageable with saidside wall at a position above said discharge door.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,763,499 Bolger June 10, 1930 1,989,415 Hartman Ian. 29, 1935 2,456,209Merritt Dec. 14, 1948 2,578,116 White et a1. Dec. 11, 1951 2,683,544Linde July 13, 1954 2,786,587 Straight Mar. 26, 1957

